Wow, I really feel badly about neglecting mine now. Perhaps I can get some gongfu in this weekend and give mine some love. It is a pair of small feet with an even smaller spider on each one. I got them from Verdant a year or two ago when they still had tea pets. Mine are really dark though, I wonder what they are made of, I always assumed clay. There is a symbol on them but I have no idea what it indicates.

@Kiwi, yes I think I am supposed to treat it much like a yixing. Whoops. I don’t have any sort of a tea tray, I just use a large dinner saucer and pour some of the liquid over them, but it gets messy. Sometimes I want to cheat and leave them in a glass of tea, heh.

Verdant used to sell other teaware as well, I am not sure if they still do on occasion or not.

Dinosara – I, like Uniquity, have just been using a nice saucer since I don’t have a draining tea tray. It works pretty well for now, but I do want to find a nice tea tray one day. Right now they are just out of my budget for what I want.

I’m so excited!!!! I was at a Chinese restaurant today and in their display case they had "Tea Pets ". I got a golden toad with the colored beads on its back and a lion laying on his back with a red ball in its palls, the ball spins as you pore tea on him. When I got home I looked them up on the net. They cost $50. and $42. plus I would have had to pay shipping, I got then both for $37. WooHoo! I’m so happy when I find a deal. I’ve been wanting one ever since this tread was started last month.

Are these “tea pets” rooted in any sort of real ancient Chinese tea custom? Or are they just a recent innovation, the clay doodles made with the unused bits of clay by underpaid “yixing” tea pot makers hoping to show their skill?

For the record, I’d be willing to become the personal tea pet of anyone who’d promise to pour delicious gong fu brewed oolong into my mouth every morning. After four or five cups I too tend to spray. I also change colors and make sounds if hot water is poured on to me, but having tried it once, am not really fond of the practice. I’m small and cute, at least compared to a frog.

I found this discussion online and just had to show you my collection. Spent 18 months in Shanghai and me and my friend who I met there started collecting these trying our best to visit every tea shop in the city.

Please forgive my ignorance, but what’s the point of these things? Is it just to have something to do? Or after seasoning it for a while, can you put the tea pet in a cup of water and it will flavor it like that tea?

They’re kind of like pet rocks, but not really? I talked about them with Shunan from T-Drunk at the Coffee and Tea Festival the year before, so much of what I know comes from her. You take care of them like yixing tea pots, pouring excess tea over them during a gongfu session to season them. You can indeed also soak them. They change color and become more fragrant over time. Also, they also keep you company as you appreciate the tea. Tea pets that are specifically pixiu – mythical dragon-like creatures – are said to attract luck and money.

When making tea in a traditional Chinese style, it’s a common practice to rinse the tea leaves prior to drinking. That rinse is then used to pre-heat the teaware. It feels a bit unceremonious to just dump that water so it is then poured over the tea pet. We’ll usually use a tea table with a drain in it so that we don’t make a mess. I’m the manager of Tea Drunk and tea pets are something that our customers have really responded to. When we opened in October we had about 40 or so and now we are down to just 4.

It’s mostly just a fun little addition to your tea drinking experience. There are also traditional beliefs that certain materials have souls and certain materials do not. The tea pet (usually made out of yixing clay) does not have a soul but tea does. Therefore whenever you share tea with your tea pet you are imparting a soul that them. I always found that idea a bit heartwarming :)